| First, let me start off by saying, I'm not one who
easily gets excited about new products that seem to fit best into an
"Infomercial" format. Bill Mays does not excite me with all his yelling
about those ridiculous "As seen on TV" products. So my first reaction to a
"cloth in a tablet, just add water" product was more like, come on, what's this?
But a friend wanted me to check them out so he gave me a sample and wanted my
opinion.
I like to 4-wheel. I have a big Jeep that gets to see trails as often
as family life will allow. Jeeps are great. Top down, doors off.
The fresh smell of mountain air ... and of course the dust. Especially if your
following another 4x4, or two or 10 on an old dusty logging trail. I have
a carry bag that rides shotgun on the passenger seat of my Jeep. This bag has a lot of handy
things in it, like water, snacks, camera, batteries, GPS, my 38 (hey there's big
ugly black bears up here), keys, and a few other useful items that I like to
keep at arms reach while I'm riding the trails. A few years ago I started
carrying in that bag a wash cloth in a ziplock bag. I'd wet it down and
wipe the dust (sometimes coal dust) off my face. It really does help
especially after getting all sweaty from a recovery or just the heat of the day.
This became a nice item to have until I realized that after a few hours it would
start to smell like an old locker room towel. After that I didn't want to
use it on my face for the rest of the weekend.
Well, back to this cloth in a pill product. I understood the concept.
Its a compressed, dried cloth that will expand when submersed in a liquid.
First thought on this was that it was going to be like a paper towel.
Well, I don't know about you but if I used a paper towel on a 3-day beard,
I'm wearing bits of white shredded Bounty in my beard. So I checked out
this product, InstaCloth its called, and I pop one out, pour a little water on
it, and watched it unroll. Give it a little unrolling and its about a 10"
by 10" sheet. I'm thinking this cloth will be about what a paper towel is,
thin and easily torn and shredded. Well, I was wrong about that.
Pretty tough little towel. I'm not sure what it's made of but the fibers
hold together pretty well. So then it dawns on me, that this is what I
need for that trail bag. A pack of these towels. I'm thinking how
often do I use the wash cloth and it's about 3 or 4 times over the course of the
weekend maybe more. Plus maybe cleanup after a recovery of before I dig
into the back of trailmix. So a pack of these will give me eight of them.
Add a little water and its a disposable tough little towel.
Alright, this is pretty cool. A few initial test of this towel, out on
a trek though the woods and some cleanup after moving a fence pole, and then one
more back at the house. Both times I was pretty rough on it, just to see
what it could handle. Interestingly, it holds up well to some abuse.
The wife was wondering what I was doing in the kitchen, cleaning the stovetop.
Just trying help out a little.
So this nice little piece of convenience had earned a spot in the side pocket
of my 4x4 carry bag. I've since used a couple of packs of them, some in
the truck while out on a job, a few more with the kids in the minivan (no that's
the wife's car) to clean up a mess or two or wipe the chocolate from a happy
kids face. Once in a while you see a product that can make life a little
easier. This one did. If you find a need, check it out on their
website below. Its part of a CommuteMate line of products that are all
designed around making travel easier, plus they make and market some other cool
things as well.
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Onboard
Air
